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A review by j_schley
The Dinner by Herman Koch
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book will leave you feeling profoundly unsettled and very disturbed. Yet, it was almost impossible for me to put down. There’s a pervasive and thick feeling of unease from the first page, and any opinions you form of characters or situations will not hold true by the novel’s conclusion.
If you enjoy unreliable narrators, moral ambiguity, and questions of ethics, this is absolutely a story you’ll want to pick up. It’s grimy and gritty and dark but provokes many questions about the mercurial nature of human morality and the tenuous bonds of dysfunctional families.
I also don’t advise reading this book while eating, despite its innocuous title.
If you enjoy unreliable narrators, moral ambiguity, and questions of ethics, this is absolutely a story you’ll want to pick up. It’s grimy and gritty and dark but provokes many questions about the mercurial nature of human morality and the tenuous bonds of dysfunctional families.
I also don’t advise reading this book while eating, despite its innocuous title.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Murder, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Xenophobia, and Violence
Moderate: Medical content, Medical trauma, Gore, Blood, Racism, Rape, Classism, and Racial slurs